Well the new bike has arrived;

After stripping it of the EU regulation reflectors, bells and a ridiculous number of stickers, I had a nice ride out to get the feel of it and rediscover my legs! It feels funny spending more money on a second sport than on the first. LVM recently asked the quetion "Why are we happy to pay for bikes when we are reluctant to pay for kayaks?" Well having done both, here is my stab at the answer;

Bikes are complicated, have many moving parts, require precise engineering, there is loads of component choice, they have warranties that are worthwhile and are well screwed together. Kayaks have no moving parts, are simple, the warranties are patchy, the outfitting is of questionable quality and the choice is limited to colour and basic design.

I cant help thinking that the breakthrough in kayak retail will be when we can buy shells and spec them up in component form. Aftermarket options become possible. Replacing a shell halves the price of a worn out boat (some companies are quietly supplying now). Then I could reuse old outfitting, or source the parts from wherever I like to suit my needs.  Im sure some companies would get into the market pretty quickly. The first manufacturer that does it gets my vote. They always protest that the outfitting is difficult.... so just sell shells, like bike manufacturere make frames and the rest is outsourced.

On the theme of 'toys', whilst dog walking the other evening I saw these guys. The spec in the photo is a remote control glider (about 6 foot wingspan). They were really flinging them around dramatically over a ridge in pretty high and swirling winds. I was impressed. Probably more fun if you actually left the ground though?

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment